Are you ready to Rock Around The Clock? You don’t have to be a total pro to rock around with your ukulele and in this article I’m gonna show you how to do it in an easy and cool way so you can have fun and, why not, show off a little to your friends and loved ones.
First things first. As ukulele players we tend to think that everything is “too difficult” when it’s outside the comfort zone, AKA, the Island strum; but once you get away from that mindset, you’ll discover a whole world of possibilities that your ukulele can offer to you. And this is one of those possibilities! Sounds cool, huh?
Read more: Learn how to play “Creep” on your Ukulele
Rock around the Clock – The Chords
You’ll only need 3 chords to play this cool song that made its first appearance back in 1952 under the hands of Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers: A – D7 – E7, plus an extra A6 chord that’s played only at the end of the song. As you can see, these are not hard chords to play, so… with a little bit of practice you’ll be able to master them.
In case you don’t know how the chord shapes, here they are:
The Rhythm
Once you’ve mastered the chords, it is now time for us to learn the rhythm on this 12-bar blues song. To do so, start by playing the A – D7 – E7 chords over and over again with down strokes only (D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D) so you can get used to the chord shape changes.
Go on, keep playing the chord progression. (I’m watching you).
Cool. Now let’s add the some up strokes to the playing: D-U-D-U-D-U-D-U. See? It’s starting to get more sense. Once you get used to the down-up exercise, you can now turn this D-U-D-U-D-U-D-U to a D-DU-D-DU, accentuating the beat 1 and 3 of each measure as it’s showed in the image below.
And that’s it! Playing that rhythm will allow you to play “Rock Around The Clock” and have fun with it. But there’s more! If you want to get spicier with it, you can try to play the hard version for this song that has a lot of mutes while accentuating only 2 notes in each measure, making it sound more like the original version.
Lyrics and Chords
As every 12-bar blues song is played, you’ll start with 4 measures of the A chord, followed by 2 measures of the D7 chord and returning to the A chord again for 2 more measures. Then jump to the E7 chord for only 2 measures to then go back to the A chord. Repeat this circle and you’ll be more than ready to play the song that will start in 3…2…1!
A
One, two, three o’clock, four o’clock, rock
A
Five, six, seven o’clock, eight o’clock, rock
A
Nine, ten, eleven o’clock, twelve o’clock, rock
A
We’re gonna rock around the clock tonight
A
Put your glad rags on and join me, hon
A
We’ll have some fun when the clock strikes one
D7
We’re gonna rock around the clock tonight
A
We’re gonna rock, rock, rock, ‘til broad daylight
E7 A
We’re gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight
A
When the clock strikes two, three and four
A
If the band slows down we’ll yell for more
D7
We’re gonna rock around the clock tonight
A
We’re gonna rock, rock, rock, ‘til broad daylight
E7 A
We’re gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight
A
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
D7 A
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
E7 A
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
A
When the chimes ring five, six and seven
A
We’ll be right in seventh heaven
D7
We’re gonna rock around the clock tonight
A
We’re gonna rock, rock, rock, ‘til broad daylight.
E7 A
We’re gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight
A
When it’s eight, nine, ten, eleven, too
A
I’ll be goin’ strong and so will you
D7
We’re gonna rock around the clock tonight
A
We’re gonna rock, rock, rock, ‘til broad daylight
E7 A
We’re gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight
A
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
D7 A
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
E7 A
| / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
A
When the clock strikes twelve, we’ll cool off then
A
Start a-rockin’ round the clock again
D7
We’re gonna rock around the clock tonight
A
We’re gonna rock, rock, rock, ‘til broad daylight
E7 A
We’re gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight
To end the song like a Rockstar, you can play this solo and end the song with the A6 chord that we talked about at the beginning of this article.
And that’s it!! How did you do? Let us know in the comments below. Remember that you can learn this and a lot of songs and techniques in the #1 Ukulele learning site. You can also find all your ukulele needs at the #1 Ukulele shop.
Happy strumming!
1 comment
This is a fun one!